This invention relates to supplying packaged hot foodstuffs in a pouch, and more particularly to a pouch suitable for delivering hot pizza and similar products in a box.
The invention will be described with reference to a pouch particularly suitable for delivery of boxed pizza. It will be appreciated that products requiring similar handling can be carried in a pouch incorporating the invention.
There are many pizza makers who offer the service of delivering hot pizza, which of course, must arrive hot and ready to be served. It has become common practice for a delivery person to use an insulated pouch to carry the pizza. The pouch is conveniently shaped to receive one or more pizzas. Clearly the time taken to deliver the pizza and the ambient conditions will have an effect on the temperature of the pizza. If the pizza is too cold, the pizza may be rejected and the sale lost. Consequently there is a need for a pouch which has sufficient stored heat to maintain the temperature of the pizza.
Several approaches have been tried involving the inclusion of some form of heating element. Each element must meet several criteria. Firstly, the element must be light enough to be carried in the pizza pouch. Also, the element will cool in use so it must be such that it can be reheated, preferably still in the pouch, so that it can be reused often frequently. The element must be inert, reliable, and be such that reheating can be one efficiently and reliably.
Some pouches have been made and used which have electrical heating elements. After each use the element is reheated using an electrical circuit provided for the purpose. Others have used bags containing a phase change material that has the potential advantage that, as the heat is given off the pizza, the phase changes and the temperature is maintained substantially constant until the phase change has been completed. Although materials are available for such a purpose, they generally include a liquid phase that leads to container problems as well as the possibility of leakage.
The present invention is intended to provide a pouch suitable for use in delivering products such as hot pizzas, and which does not suffer from the disadvantages of pouches found in the prior art.
A pouch is provided having front and back walls, and a peripheral wall attached to the front and back walls. An induction heating element is retained in a location structure attached to the back wall for induction heating with the pouch positioned on a surface such that the wall carrying the heating element is on the surface. The element is then positioned relative to the surface for efficient induction heating.
In another of its aspects, a pouch includes an induction heating element and structure locating the element in the pouch for efficient induction heating with the pouch placed in a preferred position on an induction heater.